The EVCOM Clarion Awards are officially open for entry on 8th February, so we thought we’d update our guide to entering so you have everything you need to know for this year’s awards at your fingertips! You can find out about the awards and enter here. Enter by our extended deadline of the 21st March to see your cause-driven creativity celebrated!
This 2024 we continue to feel the force of the climate crisis and we see our communities struggle under the impact of Brexit and the cost of living crisis. At the same time we have watched conflict erupt across the world, and seen an increased in hate crimes directed marginalised groups. Never before has it been so important to recognise creative work that puts these issues centre stage.
Last year we introduced some new categories which are focused on sustainability, which we are running again this year. We want to celebrate agencies and suppliers who have been factoring sustainability into events, film productions and business models.
The categories are as follows:
Events
- Most Sustainable Event – For events and experiences that make the planet a stakeholder, and take sustainability into account at every step of the way. Entrant should demonstrate the positive change the event made, benchmark against previous events, or if a new event, evidence data on sustainable activities undertaken. All aspects of the event organisation should have been considered:
- Travel to the event – reduced air travel, public transport and reduction in delegate car travel.
- Food and beverage – using in-season produce, locally sourced and reduction in meat. Portion control to reduce waste.
- Production – use of re-purposed or recyclable materials, switch to LED lighting, and monitoring of power consumption. Production transportation minimised.
- Waste – aim for zero to landfill re-purposing of waste, particularly food.
- Local impact both positive or negative, were you able to support the local community or business, what was the impact?
- Most Sustainable Supplier – For venues, AV suppliers, set builders, caterers and so on who have built sustainability into their business. Venues should tell us about their approach to elements such as power, waste and food sourcing. Event suppliers should show how their organisation is committing to sustainability. The entrant should evidence real and tangible actions, sharing data which shows the positive impact they have on sustainability.
- Environment – For events and experiences that successfully and dynamically raise awareness of the current environmental issues affecting our planet.
- Health and Wellbeing – For events and experiences that raises awareness of medical issues, mental and physical, to promote health and general wellbeing.
- Education and Training – For events and experiences that educates targeted audiences in the arenas of health and safety, diversity, environmental initiatives and social responsibility.
- Social Welfare – For events and experiences that encourages social awareness, raising social issues to vital prominence.
- Brand Communication – For events and experiences that promotes the brand identity of a charity or commercial company with strong CSR credentials.
- Innovation – For events and experiences that engages audiences with social issues in a unique and original way.
- Diversity and Inclusion – For events and experiences that promotes tolerance, diversity and inclusion.
- Celebratory – For events and experiences that celebrates CSR, health, education, social welfare, diversity and more.
Film
- Most Sustainable Production – For film productions that make the planet a stakeholder, and take sustainability into account at every step of the way. Entrant should benchmark against previous films, or evidence data on sustainable activities undertaken. All aspects of the film production should have been considered:
- Travel to set – reduced air travel, public transport and reduction in delegate car travel.
- Food and beverage – using in-season produce, locally sourced and reduction in meat. Portion control to reduce waste.
- Production equipment – use of re-purposed or recyclable materials, switch to LED lighting, and monitoring of power consumption. Production transportation minimised.
- Waste – aim for zero to landfill re-purposing of waste, particularly food.
- Local impact both positive or negative, were you able to support the local community or business, what was the impact?
- Environment – For film/s that successfully and dynamically raise awareness of the current environmental issues affecting our planet.
- Health and Wellbeing – For film/s that raise awareness of medical issues, mental and physical, to promote health and general wellbeing.
- Education and Training – For film/s that educate targeted audiences in the arenas of health and safety, diversity, environmental initiatives and social responsibility.
- Social Welfare – For film/s that encourage social awareness, raising social issues to vital prominence.
- Brand Communication – For film/s that promote the brand identity of a charity or commercial company with strong CSR credentials.
- Innovation – For film/s that engage audiences with social issues in a unique and original way.
- Diversity and Inclusion – For film/s that promote tolerance, diversity and inclusion.
- Celebratory – For film/s that celebrate CSR, health, education, social welfare, diversity and more.
You can enter the same project into multiple categories, but if you are having difficulty choosing which categories to place your work in, please get in touch and the EVCOM team will do their best to advise you.
For each entry, we will ask you to answer the following questions. Each answer can be a maximum of 200 words. We ask you to put time into answering these questions, as a significant part of the judges scoring allocation is weighted across these questions.
EVCOM Clarion Awards Entry Questions
Our historic categories all ask the same questions of entrants. These questions apply to all of our categories except Most Sustainable Production, Most Sustainable Event and Most Sustainable Supplier. Please see further down for the questions pertinent to those categories.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
What was the objective of the project, and why has it been made? What was the brief, how did you approach it and what did you do to meet it?
Help us to get into the details.
We are interested in the specifics for the project. We want to know more about the various elements of the project and how you and your team drew them together. We are interested in the size and scope and complexity of the project, and your teams experience of working on it. We’d also love to hear about anything that you think will help us to understand the context, setting, environment (positive and negative) for the project and deliverables.
Let’s talk about creativity and innovation.
This is the creativity question and we’d love to hear how you tackled the brief with creative ways of thinking and working to the fore. What was the creative thread running through the project? Was there anything new, different or innovative about the way you designed or delivered this project? And if not, what makes this project special? And looking at the wider context of the project, did you come up against challenges that you had to find creative solutions for?
How it made a difference.
We want to understand more about why your work matters in the space it is seeking to make a difference. We are interested to know more about the legacy of your project. What impact did the project have on its audience and its field? If you have ROI, ROO and other meaningful statistics, we’d like to see them here, however we understand it is not always possible to provide meaningful statistics for these things, and that projects are often submitted before that information is available. If that’s the case, we’d love to hear about the intended impact of the project.
Our newer categories ‘Most Sustainable Event’ and ‘Most Sustainable Production’ will ask the following questions:
Let’s start at the very beginning.
What were your original objectives and targets and were they met? How did you set the original parameters? Do share what worked and what didn’t. What elements were bang on target and what still needs more work?
Help us to get into the details.
We are interested in the specifics for the project. We want to know more about the various elements of the project and how you and your team drew them together. How did the agency/team work on the project? Were new processes introduced to ensure delivery, how were the outcomes and learnings disseminated through the agency? What was the client response and has it changed their approach?
Let’s talk about creativity and innovation.
This is the creativity question and we’d love to hear how you tackled sustainability throughout the project – from beginning to end. What creative approaches and methodologies did you undertake. Did you need to introduce new technology or were your solutions ‘old school’? How did you engage the client and the audience. Was there anything new, different or innovative about the way you designed or delivered this project? And if not, what makes this project special? And looking at the wider context of the project, did you come up against challenges that you had to find creative solutions for?
How it made a difference.
We want to understand more about the difference your sustainable planning made. What, if anything, was the legacy of the project? Any specific measurable stats would be welcome in the section to provide evidence of the outcomes and impacts.
And finally, our category ‘Most Sustainable Supplier’ will ask the following questions:
Let’s start at the very beginning.
Tell us your story. Why is sustainability important to you and how have you embedded it into your business?
Help us to get into the details.
Tell us about your approach to elements such as power, waste and food sourcing.
How do you work with clients?
Demonstrate how you work with clients, to engage them in your sustainability strategy and practical actions.
How it made a difference.
Evidence real and tangible actions, sharing data which shows the positive impact they have on sustainability, and your business.
Please ensure that you do not mention your name/ the name of your agency when answering these questions. We also ask that any supporting materials are not branded. This is to ensure anonymity in the judging process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much does it cost to enter?
Member: £150 (+VAT)
Non-Member: £250 (+VAT)
Freelancer: £100 (+VAT)
Q: The film I want to submit is part of a series. Can I submit the whole series as a single entry?
A: Yes, depending on the length of the series. We can accept a series of up to five short films in one entry. We recommend choosing the strongest films from the series if it is longer than this, as the series of films will be given an overall mark by our judges.
Q: My client is awards-shy; what should I do?
A: Some clients are a little awards-shy and sometimes for good reason. Clients who need to be anonymous, can be. If you’d like to ensure your client remains anonymous in shortlist announcements then please make a note of this within your submission, by writing ‘anonymous’ in the client box or leaving it blank.
Q: The project I want to enter was published/ delivered in summer last year. Is it still eligible?
A: Projects and events published/ delivered after the 1st March 2023 up until this year‘s deadline, 14th March 2024, are eligible for entry. Anything within that year span is eligible for entry.
Q: I’m not an EVCOM member – can I enter?
A: Yes! Entrants do not need to be members of EVCOM to enter the awards; however member entrants receive a significant discount on their entries. Find out more about EVCOM Membership here.
Q: I’m interested in sponsoring the award. How can I find out more?
A: Should you be interested in sponsoring an awards category at the EVCOM Clarion Awards please get in touch with Gemma.
If you have any more questions that aren’t covered here, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via amelia.brown@evcom.org.uk. We look forward to seeing your entries in the coming weeks. Best of luck!